Felicia Dorothea
Hemans was and English poet who produced a large number
of books of verse of all kinds including love lyrics,
classical, mythological, and sentimental. She was regarded
as an epitome of feminine charm during her lifetime, and
is probably best known for her poem, “Casabianca”, better
known as ‘The boy stood on the burning deck...’.

Felicia Hemans
was born Felicia Browne at Liverpool on September 25,
1793 . Her father was George Browne, a Liverpool merchant
of Irish descent and her mother, Felictiy Wagner Browne
, was of mixed Italian and German descent. She was the
fifth of seven children. Felicia was distinguished by
her beauty and genius. She began to read at an early age
and did so insatiably from the family’s well-stocked library.
At an early age she manifested a taste for poetry, in
which she was encouraged by her mother. When her father’s
business failed around 1800, the family moved to Wales
, first living in an isolated seaside house in Gwrych
and then in 1809 to St. Asaph. Here the young poetess
obtained a strong passion for nature, read books of chronicles
and romance, and gained a working knowledge of the German,
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese languages. She also cultivated
her excellent musical taste.

Her first book,
“Poems” was published in 1808, when she was only fifteen
years old. It was a remarkable work for a girl of her
age, but the critics gave her some harsh reviews. Her
second title was “The Domestic Affections”, which was
published in 1812. In that same year she married Captain
Alfred Hemans, whom she met in 1808 while visiting he
was visiting in her neighborhood from Spain , where he
was stationed with her brothers who served in the kings
army. She fell in love with him and that love did not
wane with his absence. Upon his return in 1811, the relationship
continued to develop until it ended in marriage. Their
marriage, however, was not a happy one and in 1818 Captain
Hemans went to Rome and left his wife and family behind.
They never saw each other again. Felicia, though poor
in health, now devoted herself to the education of her
five sons. She also devoted much of her time to reading
and writing, spending the rest of her life in North Wales
, Lancashire , and later in life in Dublin .

Her most famous
works were, “The Vespers of Palermo”, a tragedy which
proved a failure when acted at Covent Garden; “The Siege
of Valencia”, “The Forest Sanctuary”, “The Songs of the
Affections”, “Hymns for Childhood”, and “Scenes and Hymns
of Life”.

Felicia Heman’s
work was without great originality or force, yet it was
sweet, natural, and pleasing. But she was too fluent and
wrote much and hastily. Her lyrics were her best productions
and her poems the most ambitious. She was a woman of true
genius, and some of her poems are perfect in sentiment
and will live on as long as the English language. She
died on May 16, 1835 while living in Dublin .